Oct 28, 2020
Anna Burns has scored her second big literary prize for Milkman, after also winning the 2018 Man Booker Prize 2 years ago. The Dublin Literary Award receives nominations from public libraries around the world, including the Ottawa Public Library. Our nominee was Washington Black that made it to this year's shortlist. Anna Burns is the first writer from Northern Ireland to win, and only the fourth woman in its 25 year history. She said on winning: "This is an extraordinary honour—especially given the fantastic list I find myself on." In addition to Esi Edugyan's novel, several other well known titles were part of that fantastic short list and included The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, There, There by Tommy Orange, and Olga Tokarczuk - winner of the 2019 Nobel - for Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, just to name a few.
"Milkman is a story of the way inaction can have enormous repercussions, in a time when the wrong flag, wrong religion, or even a sunset can be subversive. Told with ferocious energy and sly, wicked humor, Milkman establishes Anna Burns as one of the most consequential voices of our day."
